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Chapter 8

  • “You don’t need to, I can walk,” I doubled my steps, but his strides were way longer than mine, and in no time, I had to occasionally jug to meet up with his pace. There was no use being so strong-headed. Pablo could still be anywhere around here watching me.
  • “Are you not interested in knowing what we need you for?” Marcel apparently wasn’t backing down. I’m not exactly short, but I feel like an ant walking beside him.
  • The offer sounds tempting, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. Things just never worked in my favor. Nothing I ever did or hoped for went the way I wanted them and I gave up dreaming a long time ago. It’s almost like the universe worked against me.
  • “What is it I have to do?” I asked casually. My ears were itching, and my mind was trained to receive whatever ridiculous thing he had to say.
  • “We need an heir that only you can provide!” he rasped.
  • “What?!” I stopped in my tracks and turn to him.
  • He crossed his large arms across his broad chest. The seriousness on his face told me this was no joke, he meant all of it.
  • I gulped down saliva “You have to think this through, and the way I see it, this is your best bet,” He was angry, and I was scared of his anger, making it hard to hold his gaze for long.
  • “I’m letting you walk away because I need to give you time to think this through. Slade isn’t going to be too happy if I returned without you, but I’ll be back tomorrow, and then, you’re coming with me,” he states flatly before turning his back. I watched his bulky frame disappear into the shadows, resisting the urge to tell him not to leave me to walk home alone.
  • We had covered most of the distance to my house, so clutching my bag to my chest, I ran the remaining distance to the house, occasionally looking over my shoulders to be sure I wasn’t being followed. I did feel eyes on me, but something told me it wasn’t Pablo. I had a bigger stalker. Marcel.
  • Mum Dad and Audrey were waiting for me at the door when I got back, many lines of worry on mother’s face. I saw her wipe her cheeks from a distance, and as soon as she saw me, she opened her arms to welcome me, reminding me of when I was a little girl. She was always waiting by the door to welcome me and Audrey whenever dad picked us up from school on the days she wasn’t working. I ran into her arms and hugged her, sniffing back tears.
  • “We have been worried sick,” she dabbed at her own eyes. Dad looks me over to ascertain I was okay. I didn’t miss the bruises on his face and his swollen left eye. Without saying a word, he turned and made his way back into the house leaving us to follow behind him.
  • “What happened to your phone?” Audrey asked.
  • “It went dead,” I answered. Audrey looked sad. Not like anyone was happy around here nowadays. Sadness and gloom hung around the four walls of this house.
  • “What happened to you?” mum gasped, snatching my hand to inspect the minor graze on my elbows.
  • “It’s nothing,” I swallowed, “Pablo and his gang attacked me, but it wasn’t anything too serious,”
  • My mum broke into instant tears while Audrey hovered around me. Meanwhile, the man who was the cause of this mess stood inches away, watching us without uttering a single word. “Did they hurt you? What happened?”
  • I pulled my arms away “It’s nothing. Good thing someone got there just in time to save me,” I say sending death glares at my father. He looked like a mess. His left eye was completely swollen and black, I doubt if he could see through it. It had to be Pablo’s handiwork.
  • “You should close earlier Aria. You can’t make all the money in a day!” Audrey scolded.
  • Talk about money, I reached for the dollar bills I had tucked in my back pockets, and my heart skipped a beat when I didn’t feel them there. I’m sure I kept the money there. I searched both back and front pockets, then my handbag, but it was gone.
  • “Shit,” I must have lost it during that brawl, or Pablo and his colleague had stolen from me “I lost today’s pay,”
  • “Don’t look so sad,” mum cooed, but I heard the disappointment in her voice “Tell us how you escaped Pablo with only a slight scratch. Your father didn’t get so lucky earlier today,”
  • Father groaned and turned away to deposit himself on his seat.
  • “Someone saved me. Some guy that goes by the name Marcel,” I contemplated telling the truth “Scariest man I ever set my eyes on, possessing more strength than ten men put together. He fought off Pablo and his gang with one hand while still standing on the same spot,”
  • The ordeal I just witnessed flashed before my mind's eye as I narrated the episode to them, but mum being as inquisitive as ever kept on asking questions.
  • “Did he say where he was from?”
  • I didn’t know a thing about Marcel, not even his surname, yet he knew every single detail about me and my family.
  • “He didn’t say, but he did mention they needed my help for something, and offered to clear off our debts if I agreed,”
  • Father leaned forward in his seat, “What did they need?” he spoke for the first time. Mum’s face contorted into a frown, her thoughts aligned with mine. He didn’t care that I’d been out late or that I bruised my arms, but was suddenly interested when I mentioned something about clearing his debts.
  • I didn’t look in his direction when I spoke even though he had been the one that asked the question.
  • “Something about an heir that only I could bear,” I swallowed the lump in my throat.
  • Mum’s jaw hung loose and stayed that way for many seconds. Is it guilt I perceive here?
  • “Mum?” Audrey broke the silence.
  • “Well that isn’t such a bad idea, is it?” Father chipped in.
  • “Dad!” I and Audrey chorused at the same time that Mom screamed “Harold!”
  • He raised his hand in the air and leaned back into his seat as all three of us glared at him. Good to see that Audrey wasn’t on his side in this matter.
  • “Come let me clean your wound,” mum pulled me to the kitchen. My mum used to be a nurse before, but she lost her license after a fire outbreak in our previous home.
  • “Tell me in detail all that happened tonight. From the start.” she says softly, and I sighed before going into a detailed description of the events of the night. From leaving Mrs. Brown’s house to getting here. She listened with rapt attention as she cleaned my wounds gently.
  • I didn’t miss that she and my father occasionally exchanged glances as I spoke.
  • “Aria…” Dad was going to say something, but his voice trailed off on second thoughts.
  • “Here, eat something,” mum shoved a plate of spaghetti into my arms with shaky hands. She was acting suspicious, but maybe I was the only one that saw it.
  • “Did he tell you the name of his pa-” she stopped herself “Never mind, eat up,”
  • I forced myself to eat the food while my mum and dad deliberated on Pablo’s issue. I wasn’t hungry, but we don’t waste food in this house. We couldn’t afford to. We didn’t have enough for leftovers, and I may not get to eat another meal until tomorrow night. I couldn’t risk it.
  • When I climbed into bed later that night, sleep didn’t come. I was exhausted, my body needed the rest, but thoughts of what happened this night wouldn’t let me.
  • What if Marcel meant what he said? One part of me wanted to believe it, but the other part doubted him. If his boss wanted an heir, many women could provide him one. What made me special? Things like this only happened in movies. I don’t doubt that he is rich and powerful, but what if this was some sort of plot? There must be something else he wasn’t saying.
  • The way things are going, I may have to make a decision soon. Marcel is right. We cannot raise that amount of money from doing menial jobs, and Pablo promised to come back, which I do not doubt for a second. I don’t doubt that my father will force myself and Audrey into Pablo’s arms anytime soon. Time is running out. I got lucky today, but may not be so lucky tomorrow.
  • Mrs. Brown mentioned not needing my services tomorrow, and I was relieved I wouldn’t have to pass that route tomorrow. I closed my eyes and hummed a song in my mind, but it took several hours before sleep finally came.